October 2012 Meeting &

Plant of the Month Competition

Pediocactus in Habitat by Trevor Wray

Trevor started his talk by showing us his greenhouses - all three in number. His favourite cacti genus is the Pediocactus of which he has many. This was the main theme of his talk.

The first part of the talk was a safari through the Americas and several other places in the world. We went first to Goblin Valley in Utah where we saw many interesting plants. Next it was a Nile cruise in 2012 where he saw many orchids. In 2009 he went to Crete, so as you can see he is a well traveled man.

We now turn to the Pediocactus, this genus was established by Britton & Rose. It is a mountain cactus, so it is really an alpine cactus. There are many species but the main two are P. Simpsonii and P. Knowii. They flower very well in March/April. Whilst he was in America he would often see Condors flying overhead.